Tag: novel writing

The Writing Moment

I entertained myself over the last few days with novel writing. Unexpected directions and ideas were advanced. Muses introduced settings, characters, and moments I’d not anticipated.

Then, last night and this morning, panic. OMG, how does this all fit together? Some of it comes across as a little friggin’ nuts, as in crazy, insane, and maybe…cringe…ridiculous.

A brave contingency of being spoke up, trying to soothe me by reminding me, don’t worry, don’t overthink it, just get out of your own way and let it happen. This is good that you’re uncomfortable and nervous about what’s happening. They cited numerous writers who claim that if it’s going too well, it’s probably bad, ergo, feeling bad about progress is actually good.

Yes, sure, I try to accept that. Tell myself, swallow hard. Keep going. Don’t judge it until it’s done as one piece.

Easy for you to say, the neurotic doubters retort. Then all agree, let’s just go write like crazy, at least one more time. See where it takes us.

And away we go.

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The Writing Moment

I finished a draft of a novel (working title: Gravity’s Emotions) right before going into my October ankle surgery. Then, reading novels, stuck in variations of being on my back with my ankle in a boot raised at about 45 degrees, I concluded, I dislike that ending. Too damn pat.

Muses flew in with suggested revisions. It’ll be work, they warned. We’re gonna need to go back in and cut several chapters.

Okay, I agreed. Sharpen the blades.

I read through the novel without making changes except for egregious typos, punctuation, or grammar. By the finish, I knew where to begin cutting and went in.

Next came writing the replacement parts. This presented significantly greater challenges. Writing the replacement scenes has been word-to-word combat. But with all my fiction writing efforts, it’s ultimately a satisfying mental exercise. Squeezing characters and concept to wring out the story and then developing it into something rewarding to read is fundamentally entertaining for me. I’d rather be doing this than anything else.

Chapter by chapter, I’m edging toward the terminus. I don’t know how it’ll end. I sense I’m close. I’m just going to let it sneak up on me and take me by surprise.

That’s my favorite kind of writing.

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The Writing Moment

A cat came knocking on the bedroom’s slider.

Papi the ginger blade was demanding entry back into the house.

I let him in and returned to bed. The time was 4 AM. I told myself to go back to sleep. My brain wouldn’t cooperate. Instead, I thought about going into surgery on Wednesday. I felt I was close to finishing the novel in progress. It could be done before the surgery if I have three good writing days. I wanted that. Then I ended up staying awake, writing the story in my head.

When I sat down at the coffee shop, I put those words down into the document and realized, the end.

I was inspired by the book, “Gravity’s Rainbow”. I’d read the book in the past and was just browsing, and came across some reference to it. Then I had an idea, and “Gravity’s Emotions” was begun.

Word can tell you some things about a doc. Tells me that this one was started July 19, 2024. 432 pages, 117,480 words. 9218 minutes of editing. Anyone who knows that a day has 1440 minutes knows that’s not a huge amount of time. Just 6.4 days if you do the math. 6.4 days if I’d worked 24/7.

As always, it feels a little weird to be finished. Bit sad. “Like a death in the family” a writer of fame once said.

I worry about it. Don’t know if the plot makes sense or if people will buy into the character. I fret over the ending is too pat.

I told myself when I began writing this thing, just get out of your own way and stay out of the way.

Now, with it ‘done’, at least in this phase of novel writing, I need to remind myself again: just get out of your own way.

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The Writing Moment

Sometimes I write part of the novel, and it pours out, and I get up and walk away, exhilarated and terrified, asking myself, oh my God, what have I written?

I didn’t see it coming. I didn’t expect it, and it shocked me.

And then I start writing the next scene in my head and hurry back to my computer, eager to keep going.

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The Writing Moment

My sloppy and unscientific observations draw me to a bottom line that five minutes of writing in my head requires thirty to forty minutes of intense typing to put the scene into the ‘puter.

Your results may vary. Also, this only applies to this manuscript in progress. Also, beverages might play a role in the outcome. Like beer, wine, coffee.

Deeper study is needed for more insightful results. Donations are requested. Like beer, wine, coffee. Maybe a wedge of pie.

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The Writing Moment

It’s a bumpy writing ride right now.

The novel in editing, Memories of Why, fishtailed and went sideways. On page 550 of 580. Realizing that it needed work brought me down. This is the manuscript’s rev 6.

Fact is, it’s sloppy at that section and the thinking behind it needs tightened up. A few inconsistencies are evident. I gloss over them, but I hear my reading side saying, “That’s weak. I don’t buy it.” Grumbling about it to myself, I thought, look, put it off, ignore it, the first five hundred pages are good. But I can’t. I know it needs work. I can’t look away from that. I’ll need to mask up, get up the scalpels, and go in there. It’s for the patient’s own good. Yes, I’m mixing things there, aren’t I? LOL. More coffee, stat.

Reflecting on it and my writing process, I realized that this section was written late. I’m a writer who likes writing and editing a great deal. I overwrite, then retreat and revise, smoothing and polishing. As this was written in the late stages, it’s not been subjected to as much revising, smoothing, and polishing. I also suspect that the rest of the ms reads and feels better because of the process, so this section comes off as shabby.

The new novel, Gravity’s Emotions, is going fast. Or so I thought. Started on July 19, I’m on page 120. I thought, that’s pretty fast progress for me. But when I actually crunched the numbers, it’s average.

Thinking about why it seems or feels like it’s going faster, I realize that I’m thinking about it less. Attempting to write in a different manner than usual and utilize a different approach, I told myself to get out of the way, don’t overthink it, and just let the words go. It often feels edgy and terrifying. But I’m pleased with how it’s going, knock on wood.

Writing yesterday, I was so caught up that I realized that I’d gone into overtime. See, we had this thing planned and I was to be home at a certain time, which means, naturally, leaving the coffee shop by a certain time, and there I was, still hammering away when I was supposed to have been gone ten minutes before. But the scene, the scene, I had to finish it. Type faster, I mentally exhorted my fingers. Be more nimble.

It all worked out. The scene was finished and I made it home with time to spare. I’d already begun writing the next scene in my head before finishing that scene, so I now have a firm jumping off point for this morning.

More coffee! Here we go. Rock and write. Cheers

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